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Migrants wait to be rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship run by non-governmental organisations (NGO) "SOS Mediterranee" and "Medecins Sans Frontieres" (Doctors Without Borders) in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautic miles from the Libyan coast, on August 2, 2017.Angelos TzortzinisAFP/Getty Images

Italy approved a controversial new naval mission to stop migrant smuggling boats from leaving Libya on Wednesday, in an effort to curb the numbers of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

Italy's parliament voted to allow a limited naval mission to support Libya's coastguard in a bid to curb human traffickers, provoking a fierce reaction from the head of rival forces to Libya's U.N-backed government. General Khalifa Haftar, the rogue general who oversees the eastern part of the country, threatened to repel any naval vessel that enters national waters without permission from the army."

This follows an influx of more than 94,000 migrants arriving to Italy's shores this year, overwhelmingly from North Africa, which according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is slightly higher than the respective totals in 2015 and 2016. The numbers have strained Italy's network of reception centers and has led to a public backlash , which could fuel populist opposition parties in next year's general election.

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"(We will) provide logistical, technical and operational support for Libyan naval vessels, helping them and supporting them in shared and coordinated actions," Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said on Tuesday, ahead of the Parliamentary vote the following day.

The Italian naval vessel, the Comandante Borsini, entered Libyan waters within hours of the vote. Another vessel is expected to follow in the coming days, but Libya's eastern parliament affiliated with the forces of Haftar opposed the decision. It complained that the vote violated the country's national sovereignty and, according to Arab news network Al Arabiya, Haftar has ordered the bombing of Italian warships. The Italian government called the threat "unrealiable" and "unfounded," according to the news agency Agenzia Giornalistica Italia.

The Italian government initially hoped to send six ships to Libya's territorial waters, but plans had to be scaled down following popular protests in Tripoli, Reuters reports . Libyans have reportedly been posting images of Omar al-Mukhtar, a national hero who battled Italian rule in the early 1900s, on social media in response to the Italian presence reflecting the widespread unease over a former colonial power intervening on domestic affairs. Pinotti said that Italy had no intention of creating a blockade on Libya's coast.

Italian officials believe that sending the boats back to Libya will act as a deterrent, but rights groups are deeply concerned by the move. Refugees International, which is based in Washington, D.C., says returned migrants face detention and abuse at the hands of traffickers and even the coastguard. " It is no secret that migrants and refugees who are intercepted and returned by the Libyan coast guard face horrific abuses in Libyas migrant detention centers," Izza Leghtas, senior advocate for Europe at Refugees International, said in a statement. "By engaging in these operations, the Italian government would be knowingly complicit in these abuses."

Italian authorities also impounded a migrant rescue ship operated by German aid agency on Wednesday, stepping up tensions over the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that rescue migrants.

Many Italian lawmakers have suggested NGOs which patrol the seas to pick up migrants act as a virtual invitation to make the journey. Luigi di Maio, from the populist 5 Star Movement, likened aid-group's rescue ships to a migrant "sea taxi " around the same time in April when a Sicilian court suggested NGO's colluded with Libyan smugglers. It's a claim NGOs vehemently deny.

In July, Italy's center-left government threatened to close its ports to NGO's operating rescue boats that did not sign a "code of conduct." The seized ship, the Iuventa , is operated by German aid group Jugend Rettet, which is among six out of the nine aid groups operating search-and-rescue activities off Libyan waters to have refused to sign up to the code-of-conduct.

More than 2,200 people have been recorded as dead or missing this year. Aid groups say they are only fulfilling their humanitarian duty to save lives. Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor in the Sicilian city of Trapani, told reporters on Wednesday that no one has yet been charged and the investigation the German NGO was ongoing. "The evidence is serious," he said, Reuters reports . "We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa , and members of the boat's crew."

The IOM says that the number of asylum seekers entering Europe by sea in 2017 (through to July 30) is around 100,000 less than the same period the year before. Italy, however, receives the majority of migrants arriving in Europe due to traffic through the Central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy's southern coast. The route has been dubbed the "deadliest" in the world by Amnesty International due to the thousands of people recorded as dead or missing in the attempt to cross the sea in flimsy rubber dinghies or rickety wooden vessels.

Italy's migration crisis is further compounded by its neighbors, like Switzerland, Austria and France, tightening their border controls in a bid to prevent migrants crossing the Alps. Italy, which was once a point of transit for migrants moving up to northern Europe, has become a place of settlement.

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Italy Has a Controversial New Plan to Stop Migrants Crossing the Med - TIME

The move is Italy's latest effort to counter the country's migration surge. According to the International Organization for Migration, 94,802 migrants have reached Italian shores so far this year, while 2,221 migrants have died attempting the treacherous Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy.

The Italian Parliament passed a bill on Wednesday that green-lighted Libya's original request for help, sent in a letter from the Prime Minister of Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord on July 27.

According to an Italian Navy spokesperson, the two ships -- a patrol vessel and a technical and logistical support unit -- could be deployed to Libyan waters as early as next week.

Libya is a popular jumping-off point for migrants hoping to reach European shores. Many of them are fleeing war and persecution while others are seeking better economic opportunities. The North African country is a well-established base for a human trafficking operation that sees smugglers operating with more ease because of the country's lack of effective central governance.

But some nongovernmental organizations are concerned the move will expose migrants to far more danger.

Amnesty International heavily criticized the initiative, saying that "deploying warships to police Libyan waters will expose refugees to horrific abuse," in a statement released on Wednesday.

Gauri Van Gulik, Amnesty International deputy Europe director, said: "Italy, along with other EU member states, should be focusing on increasing its search and rescue operations. Instead it has chosen to shirk its responsibilities and endanger the very people it says it is trying to help, including by providing military cover and support to the Libyan coast guard, whose reckless and abusive conduct against refugees and migrants during interceptions has been repeatedly documented."

It's the second move the Italian government has taken on migration in a week.

On Monday, Italy's Parliament passed a "code of conduct" for NGOs operating search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

The measure requests that NGO rescue boats take armed police onto their vessels in an effort to crack down on human smugglers.

Three of the eight humanitarian groups agreed to its terms. Doctors Without Borders refused to sign the code over concerns it could increase deaths at sea.

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Italy to deploy naval ships to Libya as migration crisis grows - CNN

Paris - French bank Societe Generale on Wednesday said its net profit tumbled by over a quarter in the second quarter of this year due to the cost of settling a lawsuit with Libya's sovereign wealth fund.

While it had already set aside some funds, Societe Generale had to book a charge of nearly billion euros against second-quarter profits for the out-of-court settlement with the Libyan Investment Authority in May.

The LIA sued the bank in 2014 for $1.5bn for allegedly channelling bribes to allies of Moammar Gaddafi's son. The case had been about to go to court in Britain.

The charge pushed net profit down to $1.24bn, but that still beat the average forecast of $1.1bn of analysts surveyed by financial data firm Factset.

"In a mixed economic and financial environment, Societe Generale posted sound second-quarter results, confirming the good commercial and operating performances achieved by the businesses at the beginning of the year," chief executive Frederic Oudea said in a statement.

Stripped of exceptional items - including a capital gain of over 725 million in the second quarter last year from the sale of its stake in Visa Europe, the bank's profit rose by 11% to $1.37bn.

Operating expenses rose by 1.2% as Societe Generale stepped up investments into modernising its French retail bank operations and support growth in its international retail banking operations.

While the profitability of operations at home continued to suffer from the effects of the ultra-low interest rates in the eurozone, retail banking and financial services abroad enjoyed growth and net profit jumped 30% to $671m.

Oudea said the bank would present a new strategic development plan in November.

The bank's shares dropped more than three percent in early trading on the Paris stock exchange, while the CAC 40 index slid 0.2%.

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Libya settlement cuts into Societe Generale profit - News24

Libyas crude shipments jumped to a new three-year high last month, dealing a fresh blow to OPEC and allied oil-producing nations as they battle to restrict a global supply surplus thats depressing prices for the commodity.

The North African nation shipped about 865,000 barrels a day of crude in July,tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. That was a gain of 11 percent from June, which was already the highest since at least July 2014.

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The pace at which Libya can revive crude sales is critical for the oil market because, along with Nigeria, the nation wasnt bound by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries supply restrictions that helped limit supply this year. Domestic conflicts mean the two nations can pump at will while other producer states are depriving themselves of export revenues. Nigeria is also boosting output as a militant campaign is quelled.

Libyas revival hurts OPECs efforts to re-balance the oil market, said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG. It comes at a time when other countries that agreed to curb production are starting to comply less strictly with the accord, he said.

The total output from OPEC members in July rose 210,000 barrels a day from June to reach 32.87 million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Libya led the gains. An expected crude-price recovery has failed to materialize since January, the start point for when OPEC, along with non-member nations including Russia, agreed to restrict collective output by about 1.8 million barrels a day.

It may be a challenge for Libya to maintain its current rate of exports, according toTorbjorn Kjus, chief oil analyst at DNB Bank ASA.

It would be a surprise if they could keep production stable," he said, adding that there are still too many groups and people battling for a share of the countrys oil sales.

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Libya Crude Floods Market Again as OPEC Fights to Restrict Flows - Bloomberg

A group of rappers who say they had to flee Libya for their art were on their way to Italy Wednesday after being rescued by a charity boat.

The self-described musicians were among a group of 17 mostly Libyan men picked up by the Aquarius, a vessel operated by French NGO SOS Mediterranee and international humanitarian organisation Doctors without Borders (MSF), from a fishing boat in distress in waters off the Libyan coast.

Im (a) rapper, I do rap music, so I got to get out of Libya, one of the men, Youssef, told AFP.

I have to get out of Libya for freedom of speech, you know about that. Libya is a dangerous zone right now for arts...

Youssef, from the countrys second city Benghazi, said he had paid a trafficker he met in a coffee shop in the capital Tripoli to get on the boat.

So I was talking and someone after I finished talking got me to the side and said If you are looking for a trip I can get you one, but it will be expensive.

I asked him how much expensive and he said like 1,500 (dollars). I said I can pay 1,000, you know, stuff like this. So he got my number and he said I will see and come back to you. The next day he called me and said: All right someone will come and pick the money up.

MSF volunteer Seraina Eldada said the rescued men had been severely dehydrated and exhausted when the Aquarius reached their stricken boat.

They were very weak, some of them barely conscious, she said. But they are all getting stronger now and starting to recover, drinking water.

Right now we are just trying to figure out what their stories are.

The rescued men were to be taken to an Italian port although first the Aquarius was taking part in another rescue operation, this time for a fishing boat reported to have some 300 people on board.

More than 95,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean and taken to Italy since the start of the year, just over a third of them on privately-funded NGO boats.

The organisations say they are saving lives but their operations have been criticised for allegedly encouraging migrants to risk a journey that has claimed at least 2,385 lives so far in 2017.

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Musicians flee Libya for 'right to rap' - Hindustan Times